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Electronics Forum / Basics / November 2005I miss the basic books
I grew up in the 60's. Back in the '50's there were books written about basic electricity by big corporations, like AT&T, GM and GE, for the "ordinary Joe." The big companies knew that they needed to educate their workforce and they took it upon themselves to do it rather than waiting for the school boards to get around to it. When I meet a youngster these days and he is confused about A/C, I want him to see those basic books I saw, but if I go to the bookstore what I find are books written by engineers that say way more than they have to. I can't recommend those books to a kid. I know that engineers think that the more known the better, but for simple things, they can't understand the concept of "overkill." We really need to educate our workforce again. They only need to know the basics. I'm sorry if the engineers take offense, but they are the *last* people that should be educating the "ordinary Joe." So what to do? (snip) > We really need to educate our workforce again. They only need to know > the basics. I'm sorry if the engineers take offense, but they are the > *last* people that should be educating the "ordinary Joe." I think that depends very much on the engineer in question. Some engineers are very good at making what they want with what is available, even if what they want is for an average Joe to understand basic electricity and their own experience, newsgroups and Google are all that are available (as if those last two resources are severe limitations). Some do it, here, daily. > Some do it, here, daily. John, I see what you are saying, but a piece here and a piece there can't take the place of a good book. >> Some do it, here, daily. > > John, I see what you are saying, but a piece here and a piece there > can't take the place of a good book. I see what you mean. I am pretty much self taught, in the arts, for the first 20 years of my life and some of those old books were a big part of my education. The one that got me started was "Elements of Radio" by A. Marcus and Wm. Marcus. I must have checked it out of the library a dozen times before I could really understand most of it. I recently bought a copy of it for sentimental reasons. I remember a picture showing me how one half of a wave could go from NY to LA. Wouldn't that cartoon do the guy that asked about antennas (a couple of posts up) some good? Or how a motor got too hot (fanning itself) when the voltage was too high and pooped out when the voltage was too low. Dumb, simple stuff. > I remember a picture showing me how one half of a wave could go from NY > to LA. Wouldn't that cartoon do the guy that asked about antennas (a > couple of posts up) some good? > > Or how a motor got too hot (fanning itself) when the voltage was too > high and pooped out when the voltage was too low. Have you ever seen the comic book format, "Cartoon History of the Universe" by Larry Gonick? I would love to see what he could do with basic electronics. http://www.larrygonick.com/ --"Cartoon History of the Universe" by Larry Gonick?-- I looked on my bookshelf and there it was. I was thinking I needed to reread it the other day. The books I remember were not that cartoony, but maybe to hook the kids, that would be better, because when I do scout out a GM or AT&T book (and they got them from the Navy) the kids don't seem to respond to them the way I did when I was their age. But when I was their age "electricity" was some mysterious, magical "thing" that only experts knew anything about. Same as today, but they think learning the basics is too pedestrian . . . "what about digital electronics"? >>> Some do it, here, daily. >> [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > library a dozen times before I could really understand most of it. I > recently bought a copy of it for sentimental reasons. But isn't the issue really that there is far less being published for the hobbyist? The books that are found today may be aimed at a very different market, so they read like "engineers have written them" because they are aimed at engineers, or engineers in training. Michael > But isn't the issue really that there is far less being published > for the hobbyist? The books that are found today may be aimed at > a very different market, so they read like "engineers have written > them" because they are aimed at engineers, or engineers in training. The technician, hobbyist, ham radio (as far as building stuff and experimenting) markets have mostly evaporated. You won't find many young folks interested in these things nowadays. >> But isn't the issue really that there is far less being published >> for the hobbyist? The books that are found today may be aimed at [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > experimenting) markets have mostly evaporated. You won't find many young > folks interested in these things nowadays. I think that a simple web search turns up many resources for someone who *wants* to self-educate. Perhaps the issue is not so much of the availability of resources to a curious "average Joe," but one of public education and *advocacy* of the ideal of understanding of the physical world. I find that this lack of understanding of how the world around us works is pervasive in today's developed societies; it is fueled in part by the increasing complexity of our consumer products, in part by the design of those products as "black boxes," impossible even to open the case without breaking it and voiding the warranty, much less to modify or repair what might be found inside, in the U.S. by the extreme deteriation in the quality of the educational system, and partly by other social trends that I cannot understand. But undeniably, to the "average Joe" (or Jane), everything from the car driven to work to the computer on which he works might as well operate via magic, and he is comfortable with that situation. Thus, the hobbiest market has indeed evaporated, and there is little interest in basic books by folks, young or old. > I grew up in the 60's. > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > it upon themselves to do it rather than waiting for the school boards to > get around to it. Snipped > When I meet a youngster these days and he is confused about A/C, I want > him to see those basic books I saw, but if I go to the bookstore what I > find are books written by engineers that say way more than they have to. > I can't recommend those books to a kid. > > So what to do? I, too, recall the basic series of electronics books from that era. I also remember recieving electronics kits as part of the training materials; many of them ordered from radio and television electronics magazines (which are also in short supply today). Of course, everything required soldering - no proto-boards in those days, so you learned electronics AND soldering skills (the bigger the blob, the better the job??). Check http://www.abebooks.com for some of those older books. You may also be able to contact some of those companies. Some are still training internally; others use the local community colleges. For instance, Panasonic in southeatern Virginia was using Tidewater Community College to provide some electricity/electronics training, and I recall hearing Anheuser-Busch ran some basic electricity and electronics training for its employees some years ago. Maybe the materials they used are still available. The A-B Traiining and Development Group is in St. Louis. I also invite your attention to http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/electricCircuits/ . You may find Volume VI of particular interest. I have not looked at even a tenth of this book, but those sections I have been into appear to be pretty well written. That isn't to say it is error-free, but the author appears to welcome feedback and continues to update all volumes. The cost is also very reasonable! Have you considered putting together a book in the format you remember? Distribution may be a problem since you'll likely get lost in the ususal internet noise, but you may get a bit of support, and plugs, from the regular posters to this group. Good luck in your search. Richard Seriani >I grew up in the 60's. > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > So what to do? Second try. Go to http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/electricCircuits/index.htm Rod |
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